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Memory Problems

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by wolverine7323

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I have a problem with my computer booting up after I have installed a new memory stick to my ASUS A7V266-E board. It had 512MB RAM (DDR) I'm trying to install another one on the second slot!! Has anybody had this problem? I've looked on the board manual and I don't see anything about special settings for adding more memory. Did I miss something? People has told me to check on different slots or re-setting the bios to the default settings and nothing seems to work. Does WIN 98 SE have a problem running two memory sticks of 512MB? Please Help!!

12 replies

by scooter318

good day and to answer your question yes windows 98 has issues with running more than 512 of ram. If the OS is locking up or your having problems at boot up It's the ram. But if your having problems with one of your memory slots it's that slot.

by thechas

Yes, there is a 'bug' in the Windows 95, 98 and Me code that can cause problems with more than 511MB of RAM installed.

I limit my 9X boxes to 384MB to avoid any issues.

Some benchmark tests have shown that W98 has the fastest performance with 196MB of RAM.

Microsoft's answer to the problem is to:
Reduce memory to below 512MB.
Add a command to the boot files so that Windows only uses 511MB or less of the installed RAM.

Windows 2000 and XP do NOT have this problem.

For more information, check out Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles 184447 and 253912

This bug is VERY configuration dependant!
Some users see a marked slowdown when they move from 256MB to 512MB.
Other users have no problem at all with even 3GB of RAM.

Unless you wish to upgrade to XP, see if you can return the second 512MB DIMM.

Chas

by abelnguyen

An easy solution for your problem is don't add any more memory.
A stick of 512MB Ram is more than enough for Win 98. Adding another one won't make your computer run any faster. Even with Win 2K or XP, you won't feel any different between 512MB RAM and 1GB RAM unless you use the computer to play big game with heavy graphic or use the computer to edit graphic/movie.

by donmars

Some obvious suggestions: 1) Have you tried interchanging slots? (you have three) 2)are the memory sticks matched? both same speed (PC2100/PC1600) and parity or non-parity? 3)you may want to run 3 sticks of 256 meg each instead see if that works. 4)Maybe it's time to move away from win98 since you are running a high end MB with a "low end OS". Look to Win 2000 or XP.

by donmars

A comment on answer 3. Lots of memory is not always to increase speed but Horse Power, how much of a work load the machine can handle before becoming extremely slugish.In other words you may find it necessary to run several programs at once that require a lot of resources.

by dirkdj

Did you check the max allowable mem size for your PC with 98 SE? If you are above the max, you can get strange probls. Another cause can be, if both parts are not of the same manufacturer, because of compatibility conditions.

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